P.R. Laws tit. 27, § 261b
No authority, public corporation or other similar government instrumentality that provides basic and essential public services to the citizenry shall make changes in the rates they charge their subscribers or users for said services, unless they comply with the following procedures:
(a) No changes of a permanent nature shall be made in the rates, unless public hearings are held which have been duly announced in two (2) newspapers of general circulation in Puerto Rico, at least fifteen (15) days prior to the date they are to be held, indicating in the announcement the place, date and hour said public hearings are to be held, the rates in effect, the proposed rates or changes in the rates to be adopted, and the effective date of the proposed change.
(b) The Authority shall make available to the public, with sufficient time prior to the date the public hearings are to be held, all the agency reports and documents supporting or justifying the proposed change in rates.
(c) The public hearings prescribed by this section shall be presided by an examining official who is knowledgeable of the rate structure of the agency, who is designated by the Authority for such effects. In case it were necessary to transfer agency personnel to serve as the examining official during these public hearings, the person designated shall not have previously intervened in the determination of the proposed change in rates.
(d) The examining official shall hear the statements of the deponents and shall grant them the opportunity to present expert and documentary evidence. Said official will issue a report which he shall submit to the Board of Directors of the Authority within sixty (60) days following the date on which the public hearings conclude. Said report shall include a list of all the objections, statements, opinions, documents, studies, recommendations, and any other pertinent facts introduced at the hearings, as well as the conclusions and recommendations. A copy of said report shall be made available to the public for examination and study, which shall be notified through the news media. Any interested person may submit his comments with respect to the report in writing to the Board of Directors of the Authority, within ten (10) days following the date it was made available to the public.
History —May 31, 1985, No. 21, p. 67, § 3.